The Mack Attack - April 13, 2009

Mets:

A young, card-carrying David Wright devotee marched from behind the plate at Citi Field toward -- where else? -- the aisle closest to third base, wearing her passion, a No. 5 Mets uniform, and holding aloft her partisan message. Her makeshift sign had the words "citi FIELD" crossed out. And across the bottom of the cardboard was her printed preference for the name of the Mets' new ballpark. "The House of DAVID."

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090412&content_id=4243758&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb


- Not a good start in Buffalo for the Mets new AAA affiliate. They are 0-3 going into Sunday and have scored only four runs in those games. I guess we can give them a break because they are playing in Buffalo. Imagine hitting in that cold? - Nick Evans appears to have left his bat in Port St. Lucie, he is 0-9 to start the season. Fernando Martinez is hitting .250 with a couple of doubles. I keep hearing about his tools, but 2009 should be about him dominating a level of the organization. - Emmanuel Garcia is a nice little player. Reminds me of an Endy Chavez type. He has started the season hitting .375 for the B-Mets. - Roy Merritt and John Madden (not the football announcer) are two relievers I am watching for the B-Mets. Both are sidearmers (Merritt is lefty and Madden is righty). I am intrigued by what I have seen from both to date. At the very least Merritt should have a future as a situational lefty in the big leagues. - Dylan Owen was unimpressive in his season debut Thursday. Mike Antonini as well. The difference is I liked Antonini’s stuff when I watched him last season. Owen, not so much. I will reserve judgment because it was only one game. - Ike Davis continues to not hit. In 12 at-bats this season for St. Lucie he is hitting a whopping .167 with five strikeouts. - Brad Holt got lit up in his St. Lucie debut giving up 9 runs in 3.2 innings of work.

http://nybaseballdigest.com/?p=9641


Hernandez gave the Mets exactly what they needed after dropping two straight games; an outstanding outing, and he ate up innings taking pressure of the Mets bullpen. Francisco Rodriguez came on to record the final two outs in a non save situation after Darren O'Day once again struggled. The 8-4 victory inproved the Mets to 3-2 on the young season.

http://myteamrivals.typepad.com/mr_mets_daily/2009/04/livan.html


Minors Thoughts:

I would think that the Mets have some mixed feelings after week one of minor league ball.

If you would tell any Mets’ brass that the minor league starting pitching got off to a good start, you would naturally think that prospects like Bradley Holt (MMP #3, Bisons – 22.09), Dillon Gee (MMP #7, Bisons – 5.79) and Jonathan Niese (MMP #2 – Bisons – 22.50) must have pitched well.

The fact is none of the three did, but others made the week worthwhile. Guys like Nelson Figueroa (Bisons - 0.00) who pitched seven strong innings and showed the Mets an option they can use as a 6th starter… Casey Fossum (Bisons – 0.00), who is a converted starter to reliever back to starter… Angel Calero (Lucy – 0.00), who has been on and off prospect lists the last two seasons… Elvin Ramirez (Gnats, 0.00)… and Jeurys Familia (MMP #20) all turned in close to perfect outings.

The Figueroa and Fossum outings were particularly positive since they both offer the Mets a 5th starter option if Oliver Perez continues to struggle.

A couple of every day players I wanted to highlight:

Regulars of this site know how high I am on 2B Greg Veloz (MMP # 21), who starts this year, in Lucy, where he finished off in 2008. I truly believe this kid will be the future Mets second baseman, latest 2012, but most probably, 2011. Veloz chronically gets off to a slow start; however, in week one he’s batting .368, with a .789 OPS.

All the hoopla in Savannah so far has been the arrival of both SS Jefry Marte (MMP #5), and 3B Wilmer Flores (MMP #1). Frankly, both have gotten off to a quiet start, and nine of their collective ten hits have been singles, but even when these kids don’t make the headlines, they still carve out a decent batting average. Marte finished the week hitting .278, while Flores is .294.Bisons:


Mets Alumni:


Pedro Martinez, a free agent pitcher looking for a place to play, has been mentioned more frequently with the Los Angeles Angels after the death of Nick Adenhart and because Kelvim Escobar, John Lackey, and Ervin Santana won't be back until mid to late May.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/rumors/post/After-death-of-Adenhart-Pedro-Martinez-an-optio?urn=mlb,155123